PELOSI RIPS CHINA IN VISIT WITH DALAI
By ANDY SOLTIS
BUDDHA BUDDIES: House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi is greeted by the Dalai Lama yesterday at his
headquarters in Dharmsala, India, where she called on the world to
unite behind the Tibetan cause.
March 22, 2008 -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is greeted by the
Dalai Lama yesterday at his headquarters in Dharmsala, India, where
she called on the world to unite behind the Tibetan cause.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told a beaming Dalai Lama that "the
world is watching" Tibet and called for international denunciation
of Chinese "oppression" there.
But China angrily denounced Pelosi's visit to the exiled Tibetan
community in Dharmsala, India, as interference in an "internal
matter" and continued its crackdown on anti-government
demonstrations by issuing a "most wanted" list of 21 Tibetan
protesters.
Pelosi, the highest-ranking foreigner to visit the Dalai Lama
since the Tibetan crisis began, led a bipartisan congressional
delegation to the spiritual leader's hilltop headquarters in
northern India yesterday.
"If freedom-loving people throughout the world do not speak out
against China's oppression in China and Tibet, we have lost all
moral authority to speak on behalf of human rights anywhere in the
world," she said to the cheers of thousands of exiles after the
Dalai Lama draped her with a golden scarf.
"What is happening in Tibet, the world needs to know."
Pelosi called for an international investigation of China's
charge that the Dalai Lama masterminded the demonstrations that
began in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa last week.
China's ambassador to India, Zhang Yan, responded that Tibet was
a purely Chinese matter and "no country, organization or person"
should carry out an "irresponsible act or say irresponsible words"
as the crisis unfolds.
China's official news agency, which had previously denied any
deaths in the crackdown, acknowledged yesterday that 18 civilians
and one police officer died and 623 people were injured.
China also circulated photos, taken from video cameras and
security footage of last week's protests, of what it called 21
people wanted for beating, smashing, looting and arson.
Meanwhile, Germany warned China that the prestige of the Summer
Olympics in Beijing is threatened by its crackdown.
"You can't just host glamorous events for television while things
are going topsy-turvy in your own back yard," Foreign Minister Frank
Walter Steinmeier told the German newspaper Bild.
The Beijing Olympics' organizing committee told its broadcast
affiliate this week that live telecasts of Tiananmen Square would be
barred during the Games, apparently to avoid showing protests, The
Associated Press reported.
Protests are expected to begin as early as next week when the
Olympic torch leaves Greece on its way to China. A pro-Tibetan group
in Britain warned that exiles may disrupt the procession when it
reaches London next weekend.
andy.soltis@nypost.com
